41.   Sri Lankan forces overpowered Tamil rebel resistance Tuesday and entered a key northern town controlled by the guerrillas, military officials said.

42.   Soldiers backed by warplanes entered the port town of Point Pedro on the northern coast at dawn and met little rebel resistance, officials said.

43.   Sri Lankan forces overcame Tamil rebel resistance Tuesday and infiltrated a key northern town controlled by the guerrillas, military officials said.

44.   The army met stiff rebel resistance as it tried to capture Puliyankulam, a key junction town on the highway from southern Sri Lanka to the northern Jaffna Peninsula.

45.   The attacks suggest Chechens are far from reconciled to Russian rule even as wide-scale rebel resistance has declined, replaced by ambushes and sneak attacks.

46.   The soldiers have not encountered rebel resistance so far, but have discovered several hastily abandoned guerrilla bases and training camps, the military said.

47.   The sounds of gunfire subsided late Tuesday night, with the West African coalition army and pro-government militias saying they were mopping up pockets of rebel resistance in Freetown.

48.   The troops met with little rebel resistance, but military analysts have said the troops are being stretched too thin over a vast expanse of land.

49.   They have taken control of much of the lowlands of the Caucasus Mountains region, but have not come close to extinguishing rebel resistance.

50.   There were no immediate reports of rebel resistance in the north.